


early morning coffee

by please_dont_bite



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Not Beta Read, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Time Travel, it's 2am and i couldn't stop thinking about klaus so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 20:04:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17904749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/please_dont_bite/pseuds/please_dont_bite
Summary: thinkin bout klaus.If Klaus were a better person, he might have told Five that drinking coffee at 2:30 in the morning wasn't healthy, but who was he to judge people on what they were consuming at questionable hours?So it was quiet. Nothing but a steady stream and the occasional grinding sound from the machine. Five tapped rhythmically on the cover of the book in his right hand, and Klaus simply listened. He leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. Five opened the cabinet for a mug as Klaus’ thoughts silenced. He drifted.





	early morning coffee

**Author's Note:**

> yo this is my first finished and published fic, and of course it's tua lmao
> 
> idk this isn't the best quality but you gotta start somewhere yknow,,,
> 
> i listened to this song the entire time i wrote this, found it right before i started writing and it helped the birth of this fic! here's the link if you wanna listen, it’s great: (https://soundcloud.com/loungefmmusic/drugzzz)
> 
> this is set not too long before five leaves. so they're all like. 13? ye
> 
> hope you like it!

Klaus was put in the mausoleum again because he couldn’t sleep. There had been a young woman in his room screaming, and no amount of pillows over his head could quiet the sound. She was there again in the crypt, with him for 12 hours. All night. At 2 am, following the “training” Hargreeves put him through, after a day of silence and worrying his siblings, he snuck out of his room. There was no way dear old dad was awake at this time of night, and Mom was recharging or whatever it was she did every night in front of those paintings. 

As he softly pattered down the hall, though, he did worry about Pogo. Klaus wasn't even sure if he slept. He knew jack shit about monkeys, talking ones in suits included. So he was cautious as he made his way to the kitchen. 

He shivered when he walked up to the counter, dragged a chair over to the sink, and sat in it. It wasn't from cold. He could almost physically feel eyes raking their way across his back. He wondered what he had done to deserve this. If god were real, she was a real bitch sometimes. 

He told himself he was up because he wanted to make a statement, a big Fuck You to his dad and his rules, but it was also because of the nightmares. There was no way he would be able to fall back asleep. He'd rather be out in the kitchen instead of his room. The more public areas of the house reminded him that everything will be semi-normal in the morning, opposed to his room, where he knew he would have to face his terrors again. 

He also pondered as to what things his siblings endured during their training. He didn’t know much. He still joked around with them, always made sure to gain their attention somehow. Whether it was initiating an argument by commenting on Diego’s aim, or maybe Luthor and Allison’s suspicious closeness, or by sneaking into Vanya’s tiny room to steal her skirts; he was always the center. A distraction, maybe, from what he was really feeling. Avoidance. 

He never knew about the important things. He knows Five has been hiding from others by zapping away before someone enters a room, and he knows that he’d been researching a shit ton, something about time? Klaus found his opened books in the library after Five left to get a snack, and took a quick peek. 

But he knows practically nothing about their training. He side steps whenever they talk about it, if only to avoid the questions about his own. He doesn't want to talk about it. 

Do the others receive treatment like him? He wouldn’t doubt it. He knows that their beloved father, for example, isn't very happy about Diego’s stutter. He’s been getting better, with Mom’s help, but Mr. Reginald Hargreeves isn't one for patience. Obviously. He wouldn't throw a nine year old boy into an abandoned mausoleum full of ghosts if he were patient, or kind. 

As Klaus thinks about what it'd be like to have a caring father, he hears shuffling outside the kitchen. 

“Shit,” he mumbles, and after a moment of deliberation, decides to move the chair back to the table as quietly as he can and crouch behind it. 

Admittedly, not the best hiding place, but whatever. 

He stares at the door from his place behind the table, wondering how the hell he was going to stay hidden, when the door opened. He stills, and made sure to keep his breathing as quiet as possible. It might be Pogo, so he’s not risking anything. Squinting through the darkness to see who it is, he wasn’t too surprised to see Five stumbling towards the table. He pulls out a chair and plops into it, book in hand. He opens it, before seeming to realize something. He disappears and reappears next to the lightswitch, flicks it, and steps through space to land in his chair again. 

Somehow, he does this without seeing Klaus. Awful survival skills, really. So Klaus decides to teach him a lesson, because he really doesn't think things through thoroughly, and crawls under the table to, somehow, get behind Five without being hit with a book. It works, miraculously. He slowly rises behind Five, hands out to grab him or something, when Five whirls around and throws his reading material directly at Klaus’ precious face. 

Of course it hits Klaus in the nose, who falls onto his ass and groans. “ _Heilige scheiße!_ Ow! Dude, not cool. Dad would be so pissed if you broke my nose.”

Five, who was previously ready to square up, lets his arms fall to his sides. He takes a breath, and then brings an arm right back up to point accusingly at Klaus. “You're a dumbass. I don't care what Dad says; pull shit like that again and I can guarantee broken bones,” and huffs. He pulls the cuffs of his pyjamas (that’s adorable. He folded cuffs onto them. Klaus would ruffle his hair if he wasn't sure it would end in one less Hargreeves brother) straight and holds out a hand. 

Klaus takes it with a thank you. He smiles at his brother. “Cute,” he says in reply to Five’s maybe-empty threat, and sits down next to him. 

He leans over a bit to see what Five was reading, and the book was immediately snatched away. Klaus frowned at his brother, who scowled right back, closing his secret book. “No looking.”

Klaus, instead of whining about it, just pouted and thought. Five chose to ignore him after a moment, and instead got up to start brewing coffee. If Klaus were a better person, he might have told Five that drinking coffee at 2:30 in the morning wasn't healthy, but who was he to judge people on what they were consuming at questionable hours? 

So it was quiet. Nothing but a steady stream and the occasional grinding sound from the machine. Five tapped rhythmically on the cover of the book in his right hand, and Klaus simply listened. He leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. Five opened the cabinet for a mug as Klaus’ thoughts silenced. He drifted.

At first, it was peaceful. He was still a bit conscious, knowing but not really thinking about Five pouring his liquid life force into two seperate mugs, hearing but not really listening to the clink of one being placed in front of him and one on the table in the seat next to his. It wasn't until Five started to read, the room silent except for the sleepy sound of Five’s slow sips, that Klaus started to fully rest. He was just so tired. 

This was his first mistake. His second mistake was being in a room with someone else as the dream started to surface. Klaus knew it well; he had just lived it last night. 

It always started with the sight of a door closing in front of him. He can never stop the door from closing. Once it does, ice floods Klaus’ veins. Klaus naturally runs cold, but this is different. This is different. 

It’s dark, and dusty. Not that he can see it. But he feels it as he sits and brings his knees close to his chin. His hand brushes the floor, and it comes back with filth on its fingertips. It smells like dust, too. Overwhelmingly so. He’d expect it to smell like rotting, like flesh, but it’s just musty. 

As his senses digest the room, his eyes notice things shifting. Whispers in his ears. Once it starts, it doesn't stop. It only gets worse. The shifting mysteries slowly becomes forms, and the unintelligible whispers become intelligible. 

**help.**

**klaus.**

**help me.**

He whimpers, and brings his hands to his ears “No,” he whispers, but that stops nothing. They get louder. Closer. 

**listen.**

**look at us.**

**help us.**

**klaus.**

**KLAUS.**

God, they're so awful. He’s shaking, trying to explain to them that he can’t help them. He hates reliving this. It’s hell. True, absolute, hell. “There’s nothing I can do for you!” he cries, but they don’t seem to hear him. 

They scream at him, and he screams back. He screams, apologizes, tells them to stop, to leave, but they don’t. They begin to close in, and he puts his hands over his ears, trying in vain to shut them out. 

And then he opens his eyes. 

There’s a hand over his mouth and another hand on his shoulder, as well as a voice calling his name in his ear. Klaus, understandably, flips his shit. 

Third mistake: having hot coffee next to a panicking Klaus. 

He flounders, waving his arms and banging his knees on the table in order to escape whoever, _what_ ever is holding onto him. The hands immediately let go and snatch their book off of the table before two cups of coffee spill everywhere. Some of which lands on Klaus’ lap. He holds back a shriek at the hot coffee now on his pants, and lets out a solid “fuck” before standing and rushing to the sink for paper towels. 

He turns back around with a roll in his hands and starts patting himself down, wincing, before noticing Five looking at him like he just took a shit on his bed. Which, okay, fair. He did just spill the dude’s coffee. 

“Uhhh… sorry about your drink. Want another one? I can-” 

He stops when Five holds up a hand. Klaus looks at him inquisitively, waiting for a response, before the hand falls and then brings itself up to his hair, making its way through the sleek strands. He seems to be searching for what to say, so Klaus shrugs and moves onto cleaning the table as well. 

“You okay bro? It’s not like you to have to stop and think. You’re the smart one.” 

Five scoffs, and finally puts his book down on the dry end of the table to grab the towel hanging on the oven handle. He works on wiping down the chairs, annoyed, as Klaus takes a moment to breathe. He busies himself with getting the coffee off of the wood, if only to distract himself. After about a minute of Five’s annoyed muttering and Klaus’ quiet, controlled breaths, he wads up the paper towels in his hands and turns to his smaller, angrier brother with a smile.

“So… why did you come down and make coffee anyway?” Klaus asks, kind of hoping Five would forget about what just happened. It probably wouldn’t work, but who knows. Miracles happen. For example: Klaus Hargreeves. 

Five squints. Then shakes his head. “I don’t like reading in my room. It’s difficult for me to focus in a small space. Feels like I don’t have any freedom to move around.”

Klaus hums, throws the wet paper towels towards the trash and misses. “With that power of yours, I can see why. I guess all of us deal with, uh, side-affects?” He meant that last part as a throw away comment, but leave it to ever-suspicious Five to question everything. 

“Side-affects?” he asks, and sits back in his now coffee-free chair. Klaus follow suit, toying with the mug in front of him that still had a little coffee left. _Shit._ He swirls it, and nods. “Like, sometimes small spaces are… too crowded.” 

“How so?” Five frowns. 

“Y’know. Feels like there isn’t enough room,” Klaus swallows. 

Five raises his eyebrows, but pauses his questioning. 

“So are we gonna-”

“What’s with the-”

They stop. Klaus chuckles at the unamused look on Five’s face. “I volunteer to go first. So, what’s with the book?” 

Five looks down at the book, then back up at him. He groans. “I’ll only tell you if you promise to tell me about what just happened,” and looks expectantly at Klaus. 

Now, Klaus is many things. He wouldn’t say ‘curious’ is one of them. On the other hand, he can admit that he’s worried about his brother. He already knows that the book is most likely some kind of discussion of time, but Klaus has no idea why Five cares about that shit. It’s a man-made social construct that exists to organize the day, blah blah blah, who cares? Obviously, Five. And he’s so interested that he’s having a discussion with his brother at 3 am because he decided to read instead of sleep. And they don’t really have an open schedule. Klaus sees this opportunity, and he’s ready to take it. Besides, what’s so bad about Five knowing? 

(Everything. This is definitely one of the worst ideas Klaus has had. And that’s quite impressive, really). 

So Klaus hesitantly nods. “Fine.”

Five smiles triumphantly, before looking back at the book and letting his smile drop. 

“You remember when Dad talked that one time about how, if time travel exists in the future, it must exist now?”

Klaus nods. Those were existential times indeed.

Five nods back. “Well, I got interested in the topic of time travel. So I’ve been reading about it. And the idea of time travel? Reminds me a lot of my own ability. I mean, I’m constantly ripping through the fabric of space, so why not time as well? They’re pretty intertwined.” 

Klaus’ eyes widened. “That’s… okay? So what does that mean for you?” Klaus tried to wrap his head around it, but what Five said next made him forget about the logistics.

“I think… with the right touch, the right practice, I might be able to time travel. Don’t look at me like that-” Five sighs. 

“Holy shit! Have you tried it yet? Does Dad know? How would that even work?” Now it was Klaus’ turn to run his hand through his hair. 

“Dude, that’s fucking awesome.” 

Five doesn’t seem as thrilled as Klaus is. “No, no, and I have no clue. I’m pretty sure Dad would shoot down the idea if I brought it to him, so I’m not sure about telling him until I have a foolproof argument against him.”

Klaus pouted for the second time in the past hour, and Five rolled his eyes. “Well, that’d still be amazing. Going to another timeline. I wonder what the future is like?”

Five shrugs, and then looks at Klaus a bit more intently. “Your turn. What was that freakout earlier? You didn’t even seem to recognize me, and you were yelling in your sleep.”

So that’s why there was a hand on his mouth when he came back to the land of the living. To shut him up so no one else woke up. 

“I uhh… had a nightmare,” Klaus said. Five nodded, encouraging him to keep talking, but Klaus didn’t. 

“That’s all I got.”

“What?? Hell no, I just told you that I might be able to _time travel._ At least tell me what the dream was about.” 

Klaus looked back down at the mug still resting in his hands. He swirled it again, watching the coffee spin and whirl. He stood up and took both of the mugs to the sink, if only to do something with his hands. He ran the water as quietly as he could and watched the mugs fill slowly. Five was right. He made a deal. 

He shut the water off.

Five was starting to get impatient, he could tell. “Klaus? What is it?”

Klaus didn’t turn around. Maybe that made it easier for him to say, “Ghosts.”

“... is that all?”

Klaus grips the edge of the sink, looks down at the now half-filled cups of water with small amounts of coffee taking its time to assimilate with the rest of the liquid. 

“Ghosts. When I sleep, I see them.” 

His arms almost shook from the force of his grip, but his voice didn’t. Though, it was surprisingly difficult to get the words out. Maybe because he had never told anyone before. 

He could hear Five standing, coming closer. “Okay,” Five said. He was behind Klaus now, to the right of him. Trying to see his face. “What happens in the dreams?”

Klaus lets out a breath and laughs. “They say my name, I guess. I’m in a dark room, and they multiply quickly. They’re quiet at first, but it doesn’t last. They scream, scream my name, for help, for me to look at them. They look awful. They usually look like how they did when they died.” 

Five is silent as Klaus talks. For once, he doesn’t make a dry remark. He begins to feel like there’s more to this than Klaus is letting on. 

“Buddy… I’m sorry. Seeing ghosts must be... hard.” Holy shit, Five is bad at this. It almost makes Klaus giggle, hearing his brother try to console him. “Do you, uh, know why you dream about that?”

Now it’s Klaus’ turn to go silent. Five knows he’s hit the jackpot while Klaus falters. 

“Because I see ghosts?? I don’t fucking know, why do you even care?” Klaus defends. He doesn’t say it maliciously, but the words themselves are striking. Five grunts.

“Hey asshole, I’m just trying to look out for you. We’ve all noticed that you’ve been acting weird lately. I’m concerned; we all are. You’re my brother, dipshit. Of course I care when my brother is dead on his feet every morning because he doesn’t sleep, and when he disappears for hours only to come back looking like he was in hell the entire time. Stop feeling bad for yourself for one second and _tell me what’s going on._ Otherwise, I can’t help you.’” Five is pissed now. Cuffed pyjama-clad arms crossed and all. Klaus would usually laugh, except for the fact that Five wants to know why Klaus is gone so much and why he’s fucked up about it afterwards. He doesn’t want to talk about it, honestly. 

Klaus laughs again, covers his face with one hand. “Fuck, Five.” he whispers, and tries not to cry. He doesn’t know where that urge came from. Honesty is hard, he guesses. “Okay. You’re right, anyway. I should tell you.” 

Five relaxes. “Yeah, sounds good. Wanna sit back down?”

Klaus nods and takes his seat again. Five does the same. 

They’re both quiet for a minute. Five is trying patience, it seems. Klaus appreciates it. 

After another minute of stiff silence, Klaus begins. 

“You know how Dad has given me extra training since I was like 9?” Five nods; it was pretty standard procedure for the rest of them, too. They all began individual training at a young age. 

“Well, he’s been training me to… get rid of my fear for ghosts. It hasn’t worked yet.” Klaus’ breathing hitches, barely noticeable. 

“He, uh. He brings me to this abandoned mausoleum. It’s full, so no one really uses it any more. Most of the people there died ages ago. There’s never any visitors. And, convenient for Dad, there’s a giant latch on the outside of the door.” Klaus’ breath hitches again, but it’s definitely noticeable this time. His right leg bounces, and his hands are woven together. Five listens raptly. 

Klaus starts to get quieter as he speaks. It’s practically a whisper when he says, “I was there again last night.” 

He trails off after that, seemingly to gather himself. Five can’t help to nudge him a little. “I’m listening,” he says. Klaus nods, wrings his hands again, and continues. 

“He locks me in there for hours. There are so many ghosts, Five. So full. My nightmares aren’t just dreams. They’re memories.” 

Klaus shudders. “I think that’s all I want to say,” he says, and it’s so meek that Five can’t help but feel bad for pushing. He also can’t believe something like this has been happening to _Klaus_. His idiot brother, who, while annoying and attention seeking, is still someone he loves. He definitely has favorites, and they may or may not be Vanya and Klaus. So no one can blame him when he pulls his insufferable brother close with an arm around his shoulder, and makes a mental note to make sure his father suffers. 

He never knew Klaus was going through this. He doubts the others do, either. He was alone. 

“Christ, Klaus. I didn’t know. I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything. I’ll break you out next time Dad wants to ‘train’ you again. No one deserves that,” Five said, voice angry. How could their father pull shit like that? He knew Hargreeves was a bad father, but this takes the cake. Fuck him.

Klaus can’t help but tear up at the thought of never going through that again. He feels hopeful, having the support of his brother. He wipes his face and sits back up normally. Five pulls away. 

“Thanks, Five. It feels good to finally get this off my chest. And to find out why you’ve been reading about time recently. Good talk, bro,” Klaus stands suddenly, giving Five a pat on the shoulder. Then he yawns, stretching his arms above his head and moaning far more louder than necessary. Five rolled his eyes _again_ at his brother’s antics, and reopens his book. 

“I really do mean it, Klaus. If you need me, just let me know. The rest of us have your back, too. We’re in this together.” 

Klaus can’t help the smile that creeps up on him. His nightmares won’t go away, and Five can’t always be there for him to back him up. But they’ll still be their own version of family. He knows that even if his siblings want to strangle him half the time, they’d still kill for him if he was in trouble. That might not really be a good thing, but it comforted him nonetheless. 

“Thanks, Five. You sap.” He leaves before he can hear any of Five’s excuses and spluttering. But not before he calls back a quick “go to bed soon, you gremlin,”. Then he’s up the stairs. 

His room still sucks. He still dreads going to sleep. But it’s a little less than before. Klaus considers this, before laying in bed. “I’ll take it,” he says, and finally, finally falls asleep at 4 in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> me: dies a little inside everytime i have to read a dream sequence (pjo series why)
> 
> also me: 
> 
>  
> 
> let me know what you thought! i'd really appreciate it!! 
> 
> also apologies if they seem ooc at any point. or if there's any typos. i tried lol
> 
> disclaimer: i’ve edited this like 3 times since i’ve published it, so if you’re coming back for some reason uhhh. it’s different now lmao!! and hopefully better skdjs


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